Akil Henley is a photographer and an influencer. He’s the guy with the drone known as Traveldronelife. He is pretty well known on the social scene already for his Caribbean background Virgin Islands Saint Thomas.
He grew up in NYC, the Bronx, and the process of learning how to play music at a young age, sparked his interest in the arts for the first time. Which then ended up leading him into learning more about photography and the art of capturing life from various different perspectives.
There aren’t a ton of African American influencers and even fewer people of color app developers that also create content.
Content creation is alive and kicking. Akil proves that, and has being continuing to prove that for quite a while now. With the pandemic creating an even more eager type of influencer, because they now have to be creative in what they use and look even further into when everything is back open again.
It was his passion for photos that grew his following from just a couple followers to over 20k. He said, the lock down around the world pushed him from being only a creator to becoming the developer of an app that helps and brings together other creative people.
He created an app for iOs that helps the average user in finding their “influence” and create better content by making important things like editing photos easier. It helps them create better stories, write good captions, and actually form a community that brings together other creators and influencers like them. The app currently has a 5 star rating from a few of the total 100k users that found quality in it, in such a short amount of time, it’s a feat in itself! As an influencer, he has always needed to find different ways to create content, even when the world was on lockdown and travel was limited.
He self taught coding for iOS to himself, with the help of only YouTube and then submitted the first version of the nFluencerapp for iOS in January. One year later has over 106k users, so yes, his app came through. The app itself is an excellent tool for those who are looking to edit photos with more ease, create cool stories or reels, and write longer captions. One of the standout features of his app, is the ability to find a hashtag by merely taking a photo of an object and letting the app use its mechanism learning to create the hashtags for you.
There are countless photographers out there, but there is something that makes him stand out from all of them. That’s because he is especially interested in aerial photography, and while there are many good photographers, there are not as many popular drone photographers who can bring objects and places to live, that people would otherwise only be able to see from one perspective or vantage point.
When we asked why he got into drone the photography scene, he said and we quote “When I see a beach, I do not only see the sand and the water hitting my feet but also see it from 100 feet above the air, and how the ground forms a shape that can only be seen from above.”
A perfect example of that would be looking at his Barcelona photos. (we’ll link those below)
He fondly remembers the first time he visited Barcelona, and tells us “I thought how beautiful the Architecture was and how gaudy and constantly thought about every single detail of the place. But it was when I saw Barcelona from the sky that I really knew it was so much more magical.”
He wants his brand to be a multifaceted influencer or creator. He doesn’t want to be tied up with just one thing. He enjoys branching out. He further states that he likes to use the word “creator” instead of “influencer” because he thinks that almost anyone can have influence on social media, which is why he created his app.
He rightfully believes that “Everyone should be able to show or and work on growing their talent, whether hidden or in the spotlight. I think what truly makes a successful influencer is their ability to innovate, to think on their feet and continually creat
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